No One Is Exempt

No One Is Exempt
Saturday, December 28, 2019
by Dr. Paul Chappell

“Wherefore hast thou despised the commandment of the LORD, to do evil in his sight? thou hast killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and hast taken his wife to be thy wife, and hast slain him with the sword of the children of Ammon. Now therefore the sword shall never depart from thine house; because thou hast despised me, and hast taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be thy wife.”

2 Samuel 12:9–10

One of the tools that Satan has used successfully for thousands of years to lure people into sin is the lie that they will somehow be exempt from the consequences of that sin, or at least be able to control those consequences. That has been a lie every time he has used it, and it is still a lie today. There is no one who is exempt from the impact sin makes on their own lives and on others. No amount of talent, no amount of service, no amount of spiritual gifting allows us to sin and get by with it. Our sins are forgiven through the blood of Christ, but the earthly consequences remain.

James was not writing to the lost when he said, “Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death” (James 1:15). Sin is destructive to the Christian. Not only does it hinder our fellowship with God, but it produces negative effects that can last for generations.

David was a faithful leader of Israel and a man after God’s heart, but his great victories and his years of service did not lead God to overlook his great sin. Instead the prophet Nathan came to openly confront David and remind him that God had seen what he tried to hide. God did not sweep David’s sin under the rug, and while He forgave David, there were gravely negative consequences that lasted for the rest of his life.

Today's Growth Principle:
We must never be lured into forgetting the destructive nature of every sin—even “little” ones.